Merry Christmas!
Can you believe it’s already that time of the year. My year has not been the best as you all know but that’s only with the motocross side. I managed to buy my 1st house and it’s in Belgium. So even though I did not race much I still managed to take another step forward in life.
At the moment I am back home but only till tomorrow when I leave to go back to Ballito in Natal which is where I have been staying for the last 6 weeks on training camp with my new trainer Tyrone Stevensson. He let me have this week off to come home and spend Christmas with my family. I stay with him and all we do is eat sleep and train. Its pretty intense but I am doing really well and its definitely putting my head and body in the right condition to win GP’s .
We raced a 4 day mountain bike race in a small town called Sabie as part of my preparation. What an experience. It is a team event which consists of 2 riders per a team and there are 500 teams that start. Unfortunately Tyrone had a fall 3 days before and dislocated his ac joint is his shoulder (the joint where your collarbone connects to your shoulder). We still managed to finish the 1st day which was 81km and we were doing so well when my pedal broke and I could not clip in with my left foot with 35km to go and then with 20km to go I slashed my back tire so we had a lot of problems trying to fix it.
The 2md day was another 80km and you climb for 50 km non stop and again we had problems when Tyrones front forks locked putting too much stress on his shoulder forcing him to pull out .I waited with him until I knew he was ok and then I finished the stage alone in 40th place which was not bad considering the time we lost.
The next day was 76km and I started alone which was ok but terrible because every check point they give me a penalty and so you get your time but your official time there are so many different penalties that get added on. It began to pour with rain which made it very tricky and technical which was perfect for me and after starting at the back of b group (400 cyclist) I managed to finish in the leading group around 21st place( 21st team)
The final day was again pouring with rain and it’s a short 26km time trail which in the mud a lot of skill was needed which again suited me . I managed to finish with a time of 1 hour 27 min which was the same time as the 5th finishing team. Of course my official time I was docked and added all different penalties on for not having a team mate but I did not care. My time stood on the unofficial board for the day and I knew the time I did and I was just so happy to finish the race.
So as you guys can see it’s been all hard work for me and I can’t believe what a difference it has made. The last 5 seasons I have always spent this time trying to recover from an injury and this year I am just getting stronger and stronger each day without a worry or an injury. I start riding the bike on Saturday and I am excited to get out there and pound some laps and the big 450. All this training and time off the bike has made me so hungry to ride.
Well I wish you all a great new years .I am looking forward to it
Till next time.
Keep giving it horns.
Swanie.
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